Zarathustra

Iranian prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism, traditional author of the Gathas — the oldest stratum of the Avesta and the only portion of the corpus indisputably attributed to him. He proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the supreme uncreated god in opposition to the daevas, framed existence as a moral struggle between Asha (truth) and Druj (falsehood), and called every person to free choice between the two. His revelation profoundly shaped post-exilic Jewish, Christian, and Islamic eschatology — judgment, resurrection, the heaven/hell binary — through Persian rule of the Levant.